


The Promise

by serafina20



Category: Prison Break
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-01-28
Updated: 2011-01-28
Packaged: 2017-10-15 04:37:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/157101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/serafina20/pseuds/serafina20
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There are things that Michael doesn't know. There are secrets that lovers keep.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Promise

Michael knows this:

He sent a letter to Agent Alexander Mahone, begging him to save Lincoln. Knowing that Alexander would be forced to follow up on it because of who he was. Hoping against hope that a part of Alexander did it for Michael, because he recognized in Michael what Michael had recognized in him.

He also knows this:

Two months after he sent the letter, Alexander Mahone appeared on television and an revealed key parts of the conspiracy, neatly avoiding any direct mention of Lincoln Burrows. In less than a week, the house of cards fell. The president was arrested. Terrance Stedman released from captivity. Lincoln was exonerated and LJ set free.

And he knows this:

After his innocence was officially declared, Lincoln received a call telling him he could pick up LJ in Arizona. On the government. Everything. Transportation, room, board, expense account.

Michael knows Lincoln went. That he dropped Michael off in a tiny, run down shack just two steps above hell just north of the border Mexican border and left, in a frenzy of excitement and trepidation, to get his son.

What Michael doesn't know is this:

Alexander made the call, personally. Asked Lincoln to come for more than his son. Asked him to take Michael somewhere safe. Asked for trust.

Got it. Barely.

He also doesn't know this:

When Alexander showed up at the hotel, Lincoln punched him.

"You've got a lot of nerve," Lincoln said, never one for original lines. "How dare you show up here?"

Alexander pressed the back of his hand into his cheek. "I have a favor to ask of you," he said. "I had to come."

Lincoln dragged him into the room. Kicked the door shut and slammed Alexander against it. "Why should I do anything for you?"

"Because it's about Michael."

"I'm not going to let you touch him."

"Good."

Lincoln's hands tightened, and he opened his mouth to shout, when he realized what the other man had said. "Good? What? A few months ago, you were threatening my son, trying to blackmail him to get Michael."

"With all due respect, I did honestly think your son was a murderer. And you, too. And Michael did engineer the breakout. I was only doing my job."

"So said..."

"Every Nazi solider, yes, I know," Alexander said tiredly. "But, unlike them, I did the right thing when I realized the truth." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded swan.

Lincoln frowned. Released Alexander and took the swan.

"Careful," Alexander said, frowning, as Lincoln opened it.

"Agent Mahone," Lincoln read aloud. "I am writing you because I know who you are. More importantly, I know what you are. You, Alexander, are a... a good man." He raised his eyebrow and shot a look at Alexander.

Alexander gestured for him to continue.

Frowning, Lincoln did. He read the rest of the letter, then read it again, slower. "I don't understand."

"Michael trusted me. He knew I would take the information he gave me to prove your innocence and I did."

"I got what was rightfully mine. You don't deserve anything for it."

"Please. I know you were wronged. Terribly, and nothing that anyone ever does can make up for it. But now I'm the one who is desperate. One favor, that's all I ask. It won't be hard for you to grant it, I promise. I just... need your assurance about this one thing, that's all."

Lincoln crossed his arms over his chest. Raised an eyebrow.

Alexander smoothed his shirt down. Ran his hands over his hair. "Don't let Michael turn himself in."

"He would never..."

"He would. He will. If you don't stop him, he will. You know it. I know it. Don't let him do it."

Lincoln frowned and shook his head. "He worked so hard to get out..."

"For you. He got himself in there for you, and now that you are a free man, he's got no reason not to serve his time. And then some." He stepped closer to Lincoln, meeting his eyes. "You know what it will be like for him in there. The C.O.s will run him into the ground. The inmates will hassle for any number of reasons, starting with the fact that he's already broken out of prison once."

"He'll be... he'll be okay. He's survived it before."

"He survived because he had a goal. Something to believe in. Something to dangle in front of those who would go after him." He cocked his head. "But now he doesn't have that. He'll be in there to serve his time because it's the right thing to do, and serve he will. He will be raped. He will be beaten. And he will take in all the misery of everyone around him and make it his own. Prison will destroy your brother, Mr. Burrows, and you know. Do not let him go there."

It was hard for Lincoln to breathe. After all this time, it was finally all over and, now, he had to worry about it all again. Worry about his brother while worrying about putting his son back together.

"He won't listen to me."

"He will. If you tell him how it will destroy you to know he threw away any kind of life, he will do what you ask."

"What do I do?"

"I'll give you two weeks. For two weeks I will be the most incompetent FBI agent in the world. I will convince every contact I have to look the other way. Just get him out of the country, get him safe, and then come back."

"Why should I come back."

"Because the government won't pay for LJ to get the psychological help he needs if he's out of the country. Nor will they pay for his college education. They will not pay for one damn thing except whatever original reparations that your lawyer worked out in the deal. But continuing governmental support? That'll disappear."

"But if Michael's gone, I'll never see him again."

Alexander shook his head. "Yes, you will. Because I will guarantee that the government will not be spending half the energy they normally would looking for him. Michael Scofield is not a dangerous man, and that will go into my final report. It's in Henry Pope's testimony. Even the men you broke out with have sworn to the fact that Michael is the biggest pacifist they have ever met. The bounty will be low. And soon? No one will care."

"But it will still be there," Lincoln said. "And I'll be followed. Watched. Bugged."

He smiled. "Mr. Burrows, you are currently the most wronged man in America. If anyone so much as thinks about tapping your line, you will throw the biggest fit about your rights being infringed on yet again. Do that often enough, tie up the legal system often enough, and it'll stop. And you'll be free to visit your brother, provided, of course, you do take some precautions. Let Michael take care of that."

Lincoln narrowed his eyes. "You think I won't be able to discreet?"

"I've seen your planning in action, Mr. Burrows," Alexander said, smiling. "And, trust me. Let Michael take the reigns."

Before he left, Alexander elicited Lincoln's promise that Michael would never know of his involvement with Michael's exile.

So when Michael and Alexander are in bed together years later, and Michael says, "I was going to turn myself in, you know," Alexander just says, "Oh?"

Michael nods. He's tracing Alexander's ribs with his fingers, lightly, as if trying to learn their shape. Trying to learn everything about Alexander's body through touch. "I thought it was the best thing to do. I wanted to stay near my brother. And I thought that I deserved to serve my time. Seriously, this time." His lips quirked as his fingers dipped into a hollow in Alexander's hips. "Of course, I imagine that time would end up being life without parole."

"You don't know that."

"I released a murdering pedophile from jail. And a man with schizo affected disorder with bi polar tendencies and a penchant for killing those that get in their way. Not to mention a mobster." He swallows. "For that, I should have served time."

"So why didn't you?"

Michael shakes his head. "Lincoln wouldn't let me. Said he couldn't live knowing I was there, knowing that I'd, uh. You know, if anything happened to me? That I wouldn't tell anyone. He thought I'd figure it was part of my punishment." His cheeks turn a dull red. "Anyway, Lincoln wouldn't let me. He insisted we get out of the country. Came with me down here. Helped me get set up and then left for the States again. For LJ."

"Does he ever plan to join you?"

"I hope so." He looks at Alexander through his eyelashes, blush deeper. "Although, I don't think I'll be as lonely anymore."

Warm inside, Alexander pulls Michael to him. He thinks, for a moment, about telling Michael the truth about why Lincoln was so insistent. Instead, he kisses his lover, traces the curve of his ear, and says, "No. I don't think either of us will be lonely anymore."

And what Alexander doesn't know is this:

Lincoln never told. But Michael still knows.


End file.
